Oregon State Univ.: "A field study of Oregon coastal zone meteorology"

Final Report

The Cape Blanco Coastal Meteorology Project, conducted 15-19 July 1996, was a cooperative Aerosonde demonstration project involving the Insitu Group (the developers of the Aerosonde), Oregon State University, and the Portland and Medford National Weather Service Offices. Support for the project was provided by the sponsors (U.S. Office of Naval Research, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, and others) of the Insitu Group and their Australian collaborators and by the NOAA Office of Global Programs. The COMET Outreach Program provided funds for a member of the Insitu Group to be present at Cape Blanco during the tests.

The major accomplishments of the field operations were:

• The first successful scientific flights of the Aerosonde in North America, sampling boundary layer wind, pressure, temperature, and humidity in a 1.5 km deep vertical cross section extending from Cape Blanco to a point more than 70 km offshore
• The delivery of GTS compatible aircraft reports (AMDAR coded data) to the Portland National Weather
  Service Office in near-realtime during an Aerosonde flight
• Successful takeoff and landing operations in sustained winds of ~15 kt with gusts to ~20 kt